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Jennifer Santa Maria is a shareholder in the San Diego office.
Jennifer is a trial attorney. She returns to the firm after serving for more than four years as a Deputy Attorney General for the Employment and Administrative Mandate Section of the California Department of Justice. There, Jennifer successfully handled numerous jury trials as lead trial counsel. She returns to the firm with more than two decades of employment law experience, including nearly six years a shareholder with Ogletree. Jennifer’s practice focuses on representing employers of all sizes in all aspects of labor and employment law, including employment litigation and advice and counseling. She also regularly conducts workplace investigations. Jennifer has also litigated numerous class and representative actions concerning wage and hour claims involving meal and rest periods, overtime, prevailing wage, paycheck deductions, and misclassification of employees.
In addition to litigation, Jennifer regularly provides advice to employers regarding litigation avoidance and compliance with federal and state laws and administrative regulations on matters such as employee discipline, hiring and termination issues; leaves of absence; wage and hour issues; internal investigations; workplace accommodations; and other issues arising in the human resources context.
Jennifer also frequently conducts workplace investigations involving allegations of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and whistleblower claims.
Jennifer also has extensive experience defending employers before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Civil Rights Department, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and various other federal and state agencies.
Jennifer received her J.D. in 2002 from California Western School of Law. In 2000, Ms. Santa Maria earned a B.A. in social relations from Michigan State University where she graduated with honors.
Jennifer also competed on the Michigan State University varsity cross country and track & field teams from 1996 to 2000, and earned NCAA All-American honors in the 10,000 meters event in 2000. She also qualified for and competed in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials for the women’s marathon.
